Innovation in Law Firms versus Legal Departments

“Most big law firms today… [are] based on a partnership model that is criticized as archaic and clunky, billing for time that could have been better spent if processes were streamlined as the rest of the world seemingly moves forward.” Legal departments, on the other hand, are often on the cutting edge of technology, adapting quickly to the way businesses are run. We have seen an increase in technology usage at law firms, e-discovery for example, however the adoption and integration is moving at a slow pace. BTI Consulting found that 9% “more law firms are using technology as a source of innovation in 2015.”

Due to firms’ lack of adoption, companies are looking in house. Legal departments have the capability to work much more closely with their business operations counterparts to collaborate and invent solutions that will benefit their clients. However, collaboration should be at the forefront of innovation in both law firms and legal departments. Vendors and departments, alike, need to communicate and innovate together. “[We] need the vendors to work together so that when X product comes out with a new update, they are delivering a solution that works in that application. It’s not about email or systems like that, it is what knowledge products that we can deliver and how we are able to mine that data to provide an even better service to our clients.”